My Passport to Glory

1915

When, in the darkness of the midnight train, the conductor's lamp is seen glimmering from carriage to carriage does he hold it to your face to learn who you are, in order to be satisfied of your right to proceed? No! he lets its light fall on the ticket which you hold out to him, and if that is right, you are right, no matter who you are — rich or poor, rude or noble. So Christ, and Christ alone, is our passport to glory. Never can we say, Lord, look upon me, for I am holy — never; but upon Christ, who is my passport. Unworthy? Most assuredly you are. And, if you live to be the veriest saint, you will be unworthy still. God has chosen to save you. It is not a question of what you deserve, but what Christ deserves. It makes all the difference when, instead of putting your own value upon the work of Christ, and accepting it merely as meeting our need, we learn God's estimate of that work.

"Be not afraid, only believe."


Pastor and His Labor Sermon

It is unfortunate that while very few workingmen reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God, they have thought of him as coming on a purely social or economical mission. True, Christ came to free the slave of labor. But Christ also came to free the slave of sin. Indeed, that was his chief mission.

Christ himself said: "I am come to call sinners to repentance." There is no greater obstacle in the way of solving the labor question than sin. If sin could be eradicated the labor question would be solved. Admitting this, you must see that the preacher who boldly performs his duty by denouncing sin in every form, the sin of both the employer and the employee, is a friend of labor, even though he never preaches a so-called labor sermon. — Rev. Charles Stelzle.